tower of ivory

P A R A L L E L S

wednesday addams ( the addams family ) , diana cavendish ( little witch academia ) ,  victor frankenstein ( frankenstein ) , the cheshire cat ( alice in wonderland )

T R O P E S

defrosting ice queen , family honor , the ace , in the blood , the mad scientist , kids are cruel , creepy child , even evil has standards , dark is not evil

S U M M A R Y

one of four children born to thaddeus selwyn iii and diana selwyn née carrow, doing anything else besides living up to the selwyn legacy was never going to be an option for her. the selwyn's have always been a member of the sacred twenty-eight, making a name for themselves within the wizarding community that had remained pristine and untouched for centuries. even decades after the famous list had come out, the family has managed to avoid having even the smallest of scandals, always shying away from any potential negative press as they came out with endless magical breakthroughs. while not the biggest powerhouse within the wizarding world, they were still a formidable player, one that expected nothing short of perfection from its members. before voldemort's rise to power, house selwyn had always been known for their unparalleled knowledge of the dark arts and objects with the family serving as a pool of wisdom for as long as anyone could remember. they've maintained a private collection of tombs and scrolls, preserving artifacts that past members have found within their searches of ancient ruins or a quick stroll throughout knockturn alley. while it hadn't been known where the family kept these items, the one thing that was known was that not a drop of taboo magic or literature had ever been found within their dufftown manor despite the numerous raids that were called upon them throughout the centuries. for families that were within their inner circle, it went unsaid that all their knowledge stemmed from more than just stories of the past passing down through generations. unethical experiments, located in an undisclosed location of eilean donan, has kept their information up to date and improving, allowing improved magical discoveries to be unveiled to the world although it was often questioned how these breakthroughs came to be in the first place. a child who had been sculpted in the family's image, her frosty expression is a direct replica of her mother's, diana selwyn, a pureblood heiress who had been in the early stages of her obliviator career at the time of the war breaking. since then she has made a name for herself with her time at the obliviators' outpost and her research expanding on the permanence, or lack of, with memory erasure. a socialite to the bone, she's always been a welcoming hostess, always inviting to those who enter her home, a saccharine smile radiating bright in the hopes of masking the darkness that seems to linger in step with her. whispers now follow her, wondering how someone could possibly feel so comfortable possessing a natural gift for taking memories away, not realizing how she spent her youth practicing on others until harmless gaps in the memories of others became common place whenever one spent a little too much time around her. never satisfied with her own success and always striving for more, thaddeus selwyn iii is left to blame for athena's eternal restlessness. originally working towards a seat within the international confederation of wizards before the wizarding world was reshaped into the image of voldemort, thaddeus wasted no time working up the ranks of the dark lord. starting in the fifth circle like the rest of his family, he made himself indispensable whenever the opportunity arose. like his father before him, there was no hesitance as he traded knowledge for power, bartering with a mad man despite the previous efforts of his ancestors to keep their legacy secret. now a member of the court of serpents, his ambitions know no bounds and athena has inherited that drive much to her own detriment. while power is not what she strives for, her research into the dark arts has seemingly possessed her, keeping her up all day and night as she tests hypothesis after hypothesis. driven by a thirst for knowledge and answers to a never ending list of questions, it's rare to find her doing anything not research related as she spends her past time locked up in her family's laboratory, spending endless hours with nothing more than pepper-up potions and her own thoughts for company.

Q U I C K  S U M M A R Y

house selwyn is full of mad scientists in the making. some are worse than others but primarily they all lack a specific code of moral ethics. athena is admittedly one of the worse when it comes to this and she's so caught up in her research that she's on the path of losing her sanity. she spends days without sleeping, instead throwing herself into her work until it borderline consumes her. unless forced away by the dark lord calling for her or some obligation she's been roped into, she steeps herself in dark magic especially with the dark lord's latest project of transferring magic between two beings.

this has been mentioned in amadeus's intro but one of her cousin's is a squib so the family is high key in a frenzied "all hands on deck" when it comes to researching how to transfer magic from a muggleborn to a squib. athena in particular is passionate for this project since she has spent enough time with orpheus to realize how bright he is when it comes to magic theory and she believes it's a full on tragedy that he lacks the ability to cast. growing up she had idolized his mind and work ethic despite his inability to cast himself and if she has the opportunity to help him succeed, she’ll do everything in her power to make sure it happens.

she has two older siblings, thalassa and thaddeus jr, and they're twins. while both degenerates in their own right, the two of them can't be anymore different. where thalassa is ambitious and inherited her family's drive for knowledge, thad is basically a wizarding chad who wastes away gambling and drinking. he can typically be found in nox during most hours of the day whenever he's not sewing chaos with the rest of the sixth circle vigiles

where thad is useless and can't be trusted to do more than terrorize others, thal's ambition had taken her to heights that made thaddeus sr proud. a member of the third circle, she's a wraith who spends her time spying on the order, originally gathering info to be given to the death eaters. but as of the last few months, something has shifted within her and she's been spending less time at home, more specifically away from her legilimens mother, and more time in the field. unfortunately she's destined to be a traitor and the fallout from that... pour one out for a real one

both athena and her younger sister, aletheia, are members of the fifth circle but their passion for it couldn't be any more different. whereas athena throws herself into her research, aletheia couldn't care less and instead acts more like a research assistant for her various family members than a scientist herself. all she really wants to do with her life is create art and she does, but it's something her parents consider a hobby meant for her spare time and not something to consume most of her time during the day. ( think barbie rapunzel but if rapunzel was actually a mean girl )

grandma clarissa selwyn and thelonius selwyn, father of amadeus, are also members of the fifth circle alongside diana. thaddeus sr used to be in the fifth circle until he was promoted to the first circle, becoming a member of the court of serpents alongside his father, dacian selwyn. thaddeus' eldest sister, callidora vulcanova née selwyn, is actually a member of the fourth circle, bringing esteem to the family where elphias selwyn, the second youngest of the five siblings, could do nothing more than be a warden in the seventh circle. elphias is the original thad jr except he lacks brain cells and so you can't even expect banter out of him.

thaddeus sr had a twin sister, theodora selwyn iii, who ended up dying in 2007 when the order had infiltrated the court of serpents for the magical birth registry of britain. now her ghost haunts the grounds of the selwyn estate and her portraits were forced to deal with athena forever asking her questions and never leaving her ghost alone if she was ever spotted.

in my head thaddeus sr is a combo between tywin lannister and rick from rick & morty and i'll let you imagine what i mean by that

she has a pet kneazle named mortem that she's had since childhood but her heart def lies with her family's pack of gytrash ( the english version, not jk's ) that she's helped raise throughout her life

when she's not being a hermit she’s always playing mental games??? like studying people’s actions and seeing what domino effect one action can cause. def treats life as a game of chess and it shows

she craves knowledge above else and can never have enough of it *alexa play satisfied from hamilton*

right now she's full immersed in transferring magic from one being to another but her true passion project is to study death and figure out a way to preserve a soul in an immortal sense but not like a horcrux. she one day hopes to be able to fiddle with time and has endless ideas and theories that can at times make her sound a lil crazed if she ever chooses to explain her ideas to someone

personality wise athena is pretty reticent and withdrawn, keeping to herself and watching from afar. when she does talk to others she typically keeps her cards to herself, never truly giving away her deepest thoughts and opinions unless to give a cutting remark or opening up to the few people she keeps within her own inner circle. she’s pretty vindictive and even the smallest of slights will be remembered, even if it means she doesn’t take action against you until many years later. queen of playing the long game, the consequences of anything that might have happened during her hogwarts years will probably be showing it’s head soon.

those who went to hogwarts will recall that athena, as well as thalassa and thad jr, were members of the dark lord’s protégés. the three of them excelled at the night hunts and the final trials, becoming branded with the dark mark upon their graduations. despite typically remaining within her own company or shadowing the other protégés, around hogwarts she was typically composed when interacting with the rest of the student body and at times might have come off as condescending to others.

H O U S E S E L W Y N L O R E

at the age of fourteen, it is tradition for all selwyn children to go through the process of being illegal animagi. even now with everything going on in present time, athena, her siblings, and her cousins were able to continue this tradition with the exception of her squib cousin, orpheus.

considering their dabbling in the dark arts and the stain it leaves on one's soul, it comes to no surprise that most of the selwyn family are incapable of producing a patronus. however there are a few members who have been known to produce one, including athena's grandmother, clarissa selwyn née jorkins. athena's sister, thalassa vi, has been able to conjure the occasional patronus although this fact remains secret from the rest of her family.

if you ever wanted to go to a wizarding zoo, the selwyn’s are the closet thing you’ll get to one. despite being a secret, their eilean donan location hosts a variety of magical creatures ranging from harmless to dangerous. the only creatures you’ll find on their public manor in dufftown are thestrals, granians, and gytrash.

a family primarily made of slytherins, it wasn’t unheard of for a ravenclaw to pop up in every generation. gryffindors and hufflepuffs were a rarity though, often facing ridicule from within the family and added pressure to exceed expectation as seen with thalassa selwyn iii, a hufflepuff who eventually wrote a book titled flesh eating trees of the world. other notable non-slytherin’s include athena selwyn i, a gryffindor who created the curse that would eventually fall upon marvolo gaunt’s ring.

known for their brilliant minds, most members worked at the ministry. while potioneers and unspeakables were the most common occupations within the family, there were quite a few curse breakers, magizoologists, and dragonologists. however, there were a few who stepped out of the family’s mold, pursuing careers not usually seen within the family. elphias selwyn and thalassa selwyn v were two cousins who went on to be healers for St. Mungo’s, with thalassa discovering treatments for blood malediction and making progress towards a cure. unfortunately, she passed away from her own affliction before finishing her research. even those who married into the family have had the following occupations: unspeakable, potioneer, magizoologist, herbologist, magical theoretician, minister's advisor, obliviator, daily prophet reporter, and wizengamot members.

at hogwarts the family’s accomplishments used to be able to be seen in the trophy room. whether they were a quidditch captain or head prefect, their names and faces had been scattered around the castle. some of the more recent titleholders include slytherin quidditch captain, thaddeus selwyn iii, and head girl, theodora selwyn iii.

the family has a secret laboratory that also doubles as zoo of magical beasts and creatures although some are illegal like their zouwu and wampus. as a child athena had dreams of maybe one day becoming a magizoologist but with how the wizarding world was being reshaped, her dreams ended up going into a different direction. that being said, she isn't a tin man and does have a heart at least when it comes to magical creatures.

even before voldemort took over, the selwyn family had been experimenting on humans for decades so the dark lord's rise made their previously secret endeavors public 

L I N K S

statistics page: here

pinterest: here